Hi everyone, my name is Gina and this will be my third year as a marmoteer! I am currently a first year master’s student in the Blumstein lab and study the influence of the microbiome on life history traits in marmots. Marmots need to get very fat to survive the winter, and I am specifically interested in if microbes may play a role in this rapid weight gain.
This field season will be different than any that I have personally experienced, and that any past marmoteers have experienced. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our season was delayed about a month. Usually we ski in and sit in the snow watching for animals to emerge from hibernation, and sometimes get uncomfortably cold! However, this year we arrived and marmots are everywhere and most of the snow has retreated, so the work begins right away! Additionally, we will be working with only a 2-3 person team this year, when we usually have around 8-10.
It is good to see that my marmot friends from last year made it through hibernation, and I look forward to a strange but successful season collecting data on these adorable animals, all while wearing a mask!
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